Monday, 23 September 2013

Musing Mondays

This is a weekly meme hosted by shouldbereading, which is where you can post your musings of the week. Whether it be about your reading habits, what you're reading right now, a bookish rant of some sort or just a general ramble about anything to do with books. It sounds really fun so I am going to try and take part every Monday if I can!

First of all I want to share with you all the fact that I am currently reading Severed Heads, Broken Hearts by Robyn Schneider, which so far I am loving! I am not too far in to it and when I have finished I will post my full review but so far I am happy with it. It had me laughing from the first couple of pages; which is always amazing to find in a book. Let's hope it stays this good all the way through!!! Check back in a couple of days for the full review!

My main musing for Monday is actually about the wonderful world of libraries. In case you didn't know I actually work in a library as a Library Assisstant (we don't use the term librarian!) and I have noticed how many misconceptions people have on libraries and I would just like to discuss them on here. Most of these have been said to me by people who have little experience with libraries or haven't been in one in years but even so I want to show what libraries are really like.
They are not quiet. Well at least mine isn't (at times I really wish it was).We are our boroughs main library, which means we get over 1,000 visitors a day. So today I would like to share with you some library stories so that you can see what libraries can really be like. A library is a public building and as such we really have no control over who is going to be walking in on any given day. This can lead to you meeting a lot of interesting people, shall we say.

Customer S, as I shall refer to him, is a regular, a regular nut job some might argue. When he comes in you know something interesting but hopefully not too violent is about to happen (he has been known to attack staff). For example the time he demanded print outs of all the train lines in Iceland, every single one. But, alas, he was shocked to discover Iceland has no public rail system, OH NO! But this is not my favourite Mr S story, my all time favourite is about how he is going to kill Clint Eastwood. Yes the Clint Eastwood.
So one day he comes to the counter and without so much as a hello (as usual) he demands: "I want to know about Sondra Locke!". So I say okay and start to google her, as I have never heard the name before and am sure he is not looking for a book. But before I can even click on her Wikipedia page he has chimed in with: "I want to know if it's true Clint Eastwood made her have three abortions!" (This is shouted at the top of his lungs so all eyes are on us). I don't really know how to respond to this, other than to say "I'll just have a look." So with some searching I am able to say that yes she had two abortion and a tubal ligation (basically a permanent method of sterilisation) whilst in a relationship with Clint Eastwood. So after a few more "So she had two abortions", "Clint Eastwood made her have two abortions", "She had two abortions!" and my reiterating what I had found out, he suddenly declares (at the top of his lungs and in a library full of people no less) "Thats it then! I'm hiring a hitman to kill Clint Eastwood!!!!" and then immediately stormed out of the building. Cue confused vistors turning to me as if to say "What the hell was that about?" and me trying not to look shocked or highly amused, whilst also fighting the urge to laugh.

Now I actually love borrowers like this, they are entertaining, always have an enquiry for you and keep the day interesting. But from my experience with people, whenever I say I work in a library they usually respond with "Wow, bet that's quiet. You must get to read all day." and I want to respond with "Have you ever been in a library?!?". So I just want to be able to share a few of the funnier, more crazy times that we librarians face! Some honestly will sound too crazy to be true. For example would you believe a human being actually chose to drop their trousers and do a 'number two' in the middle of the floor. But even more crazily, in the middle of the floor just outside the public toilet that they are free to use whenever they want. This actually happened. So maybe now you can understand why sometimes I really wish you could just read all day!

But, I need to tell you, I love my job! I am surrounded by books all day and am constantly meeting other book lovers who want to talk about the books they've just read or their favourite author or just a general discussion on books! What more could I ask for in a job? Please feel free to share any interesting stories about your local libraries as I would love to hear them!!

If you have your own Musing Mondays please post a link in the comments so I can come check them out!

2 comments:

Hi. Thanks for stopping by my blog. I did leave a comment on yours and subscribed to your blog as I am really looking forward to reading more about your encounters with visitors to your library. I have to admit to having a chuckle (not about the toileting encounter - that's just wrong on so many levels). Congrats on your first MM and welcome to the blogosphere!

Thank you so much for taking the time to comment, it always makes my day! Because of time restraints, this is now an award free zone but thanks so much for considering me! Feel free to leave a link to your own blog and I will come visit.